SAS/SHARE User's Guide

Default Circumstances for Selected SAS Operations

Knowledge of the default data objects and how they are accessed will help you to anticipate the behavior of certain operations when you write your application or issue SAS statements in interactive mode. Default Circumstances for Selected SAS Operations presents the default circumstances for some frequently used SAS operations.

Default Circumstances for Selected SAS Operations
Typical Statements and Commands How Object Is Locked What Object Is Locked

DATA step

DATA statement with MODIFY statement update observation

DATA statement without MODIFY statement output member

SET statement without POINT= and KEY= options input observation

SET statement with POINT= and KEY= options input member

MERGE statement input observation

MODIFY statement without POINT= and KEY= options update observation

MODIFY statement with POINT= and KEY= options update member

UPDATE statement input observation

Procedures

APPEND procedure

BASE= option update observation

DATA= option input observation

COPY procedure

IN= option input observation

IN= option with MOVE option output observation

OUT= option output member

FSBROWSE procedure

DATA= option input observation

FSEDIT procedure

DATA= option update observation

FSVIEW procedure

DATA= option without EDIT option input observation

DATA= option with EDIT option update observation

PRINT procedure

DATA= option input observation

UNIFORM= option input member

SORT procedure

DATA= option input observation

OUT= option output member

SQL procedure

CREATE TABLE statement output member

DELETE statement update observation

INSERT statement update member

UPDATE statement update member

***Default Circumstances for Selected SAS Operations***
Typical Statements and Commands	How Object Is Locked	What Object Is Locked
DATA step
	DATA statement with MODIFY statement	update	observation
	DATA statement without MODIFY statement	output	member
	SET statement without POINT= and KEY= options	input	observation
	SET statement with POINT= and KEY= options	input	member
	MERGE statement	input	observation
	MODIFY statement without POINT= and KEY= options	update	observation
	MODIFY statement with POINT= and KEY= options	update	member
	UPDATE statement	input	observation
Procedures
	APPEND procedure
		BASE= option	update	observation
		DATA= option	input	observation
	COPY procedure
		IN= option	input	observation
			IN= option with MOVE option	output	observation
		OUT= option	output	member
	FSBROWSE procedure
		DATA= option	input	observation
	FSEDIT procedure
		DATA= option	update	observation
	FSVIEW procedure
			DATA= option without EDIT option	input	observation
			DATA= option with EDIT option	update	observation
	PRINT procedure
		DATA= option	input	observation
		UNIFORM= option	input	member
	SORT procedure
		DATA= option	input	observation
		OUT= option	output	member
	SQL procedure
		CREATE TABLE statement	output	member
		DELETE statement	update	observation
		INSERT statement	update	member
		UPDATE statement	update	member

Changing the Data Set Option Default Object

In some cases, you can change the SAS data set option default object. When the syntax of a statement or a command allows you to specify SAS data set options, you can use the CNTLLEV= option to override the default object and specify the object that you want, instead.

For example, for a SET statement that contains the POINT= option, you can change the default from member to observation by specifying the CNTLLEV= data set option:

set datalib.fuel (cntllev=rec) point=obsnum;

Note: If you make this change, the values in a specific observation may differ each time that you read the observation. [cautionend]

Note: The value, rec (for record), means the same as observation. [cautionend]

You can also change observation to member. You might do this to ensure that a data set does not change while you are processing it. For example, if you use a SET statement with a BY statement and you cannot use an index to retrieve the observations in sorted order, you can use the CNTLLEV= option to re-set observation to member.

set datalib.fuel (cntllev=mem);
by area;

In some cases, you cannot override the default setting because the statement or the command requires it. For example, a DATA statement requires a member setting when the MODIFY statement is omitted from the DATA step. Without the MODIFY statement, the data set that is specified in the DATA statement must be opened for output. Thus, even if you specify CNTLLEV=REC in such a DATA statement, the DATA step tries to set the object as member but will fail if other operations are accessing the data set.

Note: Be careful when using the CNTLLEV= option for a procedure. Some procedures make multiple passes through an input data set and require that the data remains the same to guarantee the integrity of the output. If they have this requirement, such procedures issue a warning but allow their objects to be re-set with the CNTLLEV= option. [cautionend]

For details about the syntax of the CNTLLEV= option in the SET statement, see The CNTLLEV= Data Set Option.

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